HORSEMEN OF THE ROBOPLASTIC APOCALYPSE

Monday, April 11, 2011

The 27th seal of the Roboplastic Apocalypse disintegrates into a dusty pile of ashes like a dead Dire Wraith! Yes it's a ROMtastic Podcastalypse as the Nostrodomatron tries to figure out why the heck there hasn't been a ROM action figure in the past 30 years and what's up with that Boobs McSpaceknight over in the Marvel Annihilators mini series right now. Plus I go looking for someone to talk some ROM with and I find a guy named Chris at the local comic shop who knows a thing or two about comic books! There's all that and more in this "IS THAT AN ENERGY ANALYZER IN YOUR SUBSPACE OR ARE YOU JUST HAPPY TO MEET ME?" edition of the podcastalypse!

18 comments:

Had a lot of fun listening to this episode. I never read Rom growing up, but I've seen a lot of nostalgic love for the character in the past couple years. I ended up picking up an issue of Rom guest-starring the X-men a while back hoping it would be a good entry point to the character for me since I grew up reading the X-titles.

While I find it likely that the universe contains more intelligent life, it's next to impossible that they'd have visited this world. I put the idea that Obama will reveal an alien presence to us on the same intellectual plane as a 2012 apocalypse, or basketball-dunking mummies, or ghosts, or snake-kissing christians.

Thanks Shawn. I was worried it was too shallow in terms of information and too dry and boring with the copyright stuff. It's nice to know you found it fun.

I give ghosts a chance, Jack. I think it's possible for some vestiges of our existence to continue on after our physical bodies die. There was a good discussion recently on a recent Skeptiko podcast about near death experiences where the possibility of existing on a quantum level after death is proposed. They weren't exactly talking about ghosts but I think the physics is probably the same. I don't think it happens for everybody and I think there may be other explanations as well but if realtors have to disclose whether or not a house is haunted to potential buyers then there's gotta be something to it.

If the concept from the beginning was that Dire Wraiths were shape shifters, then anything could be a Dire Wraith. That's the beauty of it. You didn't need Parker Brothers to make them because it's implied that every other toy you already owned in 1979 was a Dire Wraith. G.I. Joe, Shogun Warriors, Ken and Barbie and even 12" Princess Leia with Star Puffs hairdo-they were all Dire Wraiths.

Yeah, you're even more up to date than anyone else because you've heard one that hasn't even come out yet!

right on it's nice to see this blog site give a nod to the Greatest of the Spaceknights. i never was a big fan of the doll but i loved the comic book series obviously. i think so far the Annihilators is a pretty good read considering Marvel's licensing handicap.i've seen a couple of pretty nice custom action figures out there i'd probably be willing to throw down some serious cash for but i don't know how to get a hold of the people who make em. thanks for plugging my ROM blog site. that ROM shirt your wearing, is that real or just some photoshop "trickeration"?

I made the shirt with iron-on transfer paper and some photoshop. It's not officially licensed at all.

Colin if you start your show with HELLO MY FELLOW MACROCRANIANS I will sue you. Also, anything that rhymes with "GoBoTronians" and "Warriors Wheeled and Shogunian" is totally off limits or I will send Sgt. Slaughter to your house. (You might get away with rhymes including "Canadians" depending on how funny it is.)

Hey PTOR I've added a link to your posts in this episode's show notes so that you may be overwhelmed by maybe three future visitors that might find you via my obscure blog. Prepare your servers for the deluge of one or two visits over the next few decades that this may bring.

well it just goes to show you even a long time ROM fan like me can still discover new stuff related to the character. after having taken a closer look at those links in the posting i see that there was a Dire Wraith figure prototype at one point. i'd seen pics of it before on the internet but i always assumed it was some joker out there trying to pass off some random toy character for a Dire Wraith.also, thanks for the Silver Surfer link to the actual episode with the ROM cameo. i had never seen anything but the still cell before. but i pretty much stopped it after the cameo though. it shows once again why DC has the market cornered on TV programing.as for IKON being "ROM with boobs"? she's a cool character but she's too much of a rookie spaceknight to be anything like ROM at this point. much too learn she still has.

My last comment was typed out in a rush (had to run out the door at the time), but I wanted to mention that at the end of my big ROM-rundown post (that you linked to) features my own video showing how the ROM figure works!

I also definitely want to toss in a few other rave comments about your podcast.

First of all, a really well done "stream-of-consciousness" style (albeit a well-thought-out "S-O-C" style) of verbal riffing.

Excellent informational research! This podcast presents itself as a quality resource on the copyright info.Other sites (Lee Seitz' and my own blog) have written about it in-depth, but there's a nice feel to listening to someone explaining it all in plain English.

BTW... you're an excellent interviewer, able to get your subject to speak freely - while you don't come across as a fan-geek.Nice!

As for your story of the clear plastic 3-comic baggies, that was partially my own entry point to actively collecting comics (sorta)... as related in my aforementioned post:

http://tinyurl.com/Dorkwin-Origin-of-the-Geeksies

You also mention the SPACENITE 2 art auction for Bill Mantlo.I entered a piece in that auction/show and was pleased to have it accepted.

That art, and the process of drawing it can be seen at this link:

http://tinyurl.com/PTOR-SPACENITE2

I also wanted to thank you for the link-love to my big ROM run-down post.I will bolster the servers for the electronic deluge.

Heck, for E-Z access, if anyone wants to go through ALL of my old ROM posts (including EVERY one of the aforementioned posts), they can be found at this link:

hey Evil King Mac, i was listening to your podcast here at work when it cut out on me right as you started to talk about ROM following the UFO stuff. it's just one more thing adding to an already crappy sunday. it's funny cause your photo and your voice/personality totally match. as to the Youtube vid. that ~P~ is talking about i like to call it the ROM doll 101 instructional video. any chance you could provide us with a better look at your custom ROM t-shirt? i'd really like to have a better look at it and maybe feature it on the ROM blog.

Just to clarify, when I wrote that IKON was just 'ROM with boobs' I didn't mean to compare her in any favorable light. I feel like IKON's character design plays too fast and loose with the definition of Spaceknight as I knew it from ROM. Removable helmets and skin tight armor weren't part of the deal back then. The design is also so close to ROM's and so boobalicious that it just feels to me like a cheap cash-in looking to capitalize on people who loved the original Spaceknight armor and also horny boys who like the sexy robot look.

Her design is a cash-in look, so similar to ROM's (especially the chest grills) that seeks to grab lusty men-children to like her ("Look! See? She's just like your old friend... but with a massive rack! That's what you want, right?").

As for your shirt... it's pure awesomesauce! I was wearing my own ROM shirt in the ROM-101 video I made (seen at the end of my ROM info-post - which you've linked to already).I purchased mine from a seller online, but it is also an unofficial release.

I did like the Beast Wars CGI cartoon...I coveted my younger brother's SHOGUN WARRIORS back in the day...The damned Teddy Bear in the film; "Ai" - and the Robin Williams robot in "Bicentennial Man" made me cry... (because I am a ginormous wuss).

i just updated my most recent posting on the ROM blog so that it now features your cool t-shirt EKM. i wasn't happy with the posting i had before hand anyways. getting back to IKON, in my reviews of Annihilators i've talked about hoping they clarify the nature of this current generation of Spaceknight's cybernetic systems. cause when she removed her helmet i assumed that her armor was just an ex-skeleton. apparently that's not the case and that they really are cyborgs. as to the "cash in" look i can live with it because on a general note i love women and their boobs.one last thing, some how my last two comments before this one are out of order. i did hear out the pod cast and i thought it was great just like ~P~ said.